Department of Rheumatology, Saitama Medical Center, Jichi Medical University, Saitama.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Toyo University, Saitama.
Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Jan 5;60(1):322-332. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa305.
Galectin-3 is involved in various biological activities, including immune activations and fibrosis. Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are autoimmune diseases of unknown aetiology, often complicated by interstitial lung disease (ILD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of galectin-3 in sera and tissues of patients with IIM and assess the associations of galectin-3 with patient characteristics and disease activity.
Serum galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in IIM patients than in healthy controls. The serum galectin-3 levels positively correlated with serum levels of inflammatory markers and proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and the Myositis Intention-to-Treat Activity Index. Stratification analysis revealed that patients with IIM-associated ILD (IIM-ILD) had significantly higher levels of serum galectin-3 than those without IIM-ILD. In addition, patients with acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia had significantly higher levels of serum galectin-3 than those with chronic interstitial pneumonia. Furthermore, serum galectin-3 levels in IIM-ILD patients correlated with the radiological assessments of parenchymal lung involvement and treatment response. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that galectin-3 was expressed in inflammatory cells of myositis and dermatitis sections, whereas in ILD sections, galectin-3 was expressed in interstitial fibrosis and inflammatory cells.
Galectin-3 may be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and fibrotic conditions in IIM and can serve as a potential biomarker of disease activity, especially in patients with IIM-ILD.
半乳糖凝集素-3 参与多种生物学活动，包括免疫激活和纤维化。特发性炎性肌病（IIM）是一种病因不明的自身免疫性疾病，常并发间质性肺病（ILD）。本研究旨在评估 galectin-3 在 IIM 患者血清和组织中的表达，并评估 galectin-3 与患者特征和疾病活动的相关性。
IIM 患者血清 galectin-3 水平明显高于健康对照组。血清 galectin-3 水平与血清炎症标志物和促炎细胞因子/趋化因子以及肌炎意向治疗活动指数呈正相关。分层分析显示，伴发 IIM-ILD 的患者血清 galectin-3 水平明显高于不伴发 IIM-ILD 的患者。此外，急性/亚急性间质性肺炎患者的血清 galectin-3 水平明显高于慢性间质性肺炎患者。此外，IIM-ILD 患者的血清 galectin-3 水平与实质肺受累和治疗反应的影像学评估相关。免疫组化分析显示，galectin-3 在肌炎和皮炎节段的炎症细胞中表达，而在 ILD 节段，galectin-3 在间质纤维化和炎症细胞中表达。
galectin-3 可能参与 IIM 中炎症和纤维化状态的发病机制，可作为疾病活动的潜在生物标志物，尤其是在伴发 IIM-ILD 的患者中。
